It has been one of the worst weeks for the Americans since they toppled Saddam Hussein a year ago. For the first time, they are facing a war on two fronts-against the Sunni Muslim insurgents who have long been fighting them in the triangle around Baghdad and now, perhaps more worryingly, against a substantial group of Shia Muslims whose wider community has hitherto been the Americans' main Iraqi Arab allies. Fortunately, Iraq's Kurds, in the north, who make up about a fifth of the population, are still friendly. The sense is growing that the Americans need to turn things round fast, militarily and politically, if they are to ensure that events do not spin out of control. They have less than three months in which to choose a provisional government to take over much of the running of Iraq-unless they are to change their own timetable.
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